Subject: Yellow butterfly
Location: Ontario
November 26, 2016 9:16 am
Hi,
We found both of these (same butterfly) in the house, it’s white yellow with a few spots. Can you tell me what it is?
Thanks
Signature: Marie-Eve

Cabbage Whites

Dear Marie-Eve,
These pretty little butterflies are Cabbage Whites, a European species thought to have been introduced into North America in the 19th Century. According to BugGuide: “Introduced accidentally near Montreal in the 1860s, this species has become an important pest. Bacterial and viral diseases now provide some biological control.” Caterpillars feed on cabbage and many other plants in the same family.

Subject: From Bangladesh with Bugs
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
November 18, 2016 9:04 am
Hello there.
We are two ecologists from Bangladesh who have started a small initiative (voluntarily)- that is to identify different species which live in our capital city Dhaka (urban biodiversity) using facebook group. We call it “Life in the midst of a concrete jungle”. The idea is that members will submit some photos and we will try to id them or find people who may help us. Sometimes, especially with arthropods its very difficult. Thus we are asking for your help. The quality of some of the photos may be quite bad for which it may be quite difficult. So even genus level would be quite good. Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Signature: Regards, Sate Ahmad & Mofiz Rahman

Common Evening Brown

Dear Sate & Mofiz,
Your project sounds marvelous. Both of your butterflies are in the family Nymphalidae, the Brush-Footed Butterflies, and they are characterized by having their first pair of legs atrophied and useless for walking, so they appear to have only four legs. We started our search on the Butterflies of Bangladesh website, and we clicked through all the members of the family Nymphalidae before coming to the conclusion that at least one of your butterflies is a Common Evening Brown, Melanitis leda. According to the Butterflies of Bangladesh: “Status: Very common. Habit and Habitat: Found in all types of habitat from grass land, cultivated land, bushes, homestead gardens, plain land forest to hill forests. In the day time it is hide with in dry leaves, which is difficult to identify. Become active before evening. Often seen come home attracted by light. Fond of rotten fruit and tree exudates.” As you can see from the images on the Butterflies of Bangladesh site, this is a highly variable species. We tried to find other examples online that more closely resembled the two images you submitted. SambuiButterflies has an image with color and markings nearly identical to the image you provided of the Common Evening Brown resting on a leaf, a the site states: “Not uncommon species with an enormous variety of underside patterns.” Project Noah has an image that resembles the markings on the individual resting on the stucco wall. We believe your moth is in the family Lasiocampidae.

Subject: Urban Oasis for Butterflies
Location: Harker Heights, Texas
November 15, 2016 9:00 pm
Hello again!
Bad news: I had to have dental surgery. 🙁
Good news: My very-excellent-surgeon has built a new office building, complete with wildlife gardens that he and his wife planted. 🙂
Clouds of butterflies are enjoying their gardens. Eighty-three degrees today, with not a cloud in the skies.
I saw monarchs, queens (I think? some mating), American snouts, giant swallowtails, sulphurs, skippers, whites, emperors, maybe sleepy oranges, tiny blues… all so beautiful.
Hoping you’re both having a great week.
Signature: Ellen

Queens

Dear Ellen,
We are sorry to hear about your surgery, and we think it is amazing that you took your camera with you to the dentist. We love your images of Queens, a Monarch and a Giant Swallowtail.

Monarch

Thank you! I had to return to the dental surgeon’s office a second day, oh joy, and took my camera then. The surgeon and staff had invited me into the employees’ courtyard to take photos because I admired the gardens through the picture windows when I saw them on the first day. So very kind of them!

Subject: Moth/Buttefly/?
Location: Orange County, CA
November 4, 2016 8:01 pm
Hello,
I was walking around outside my work when I saw this winged creature. It looks like it is half monarch half wood nymph butterfly but I cannot find anything online that looks like this.
I thought it looked really cool.
Thank you for your help!
Signature: Danielle Cook

Painted Lady

Dear Danielle,
By comparing your image to this BugGuide image, you can verify that your butterfly is a Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui. According to BugGuide: “Similar to the also common American Lady. Wings look more “rounded” in overall shape in American Lady, and outer margin of front wing is more excavated/concave in American Lady. Upper front wing with large subapical oblong spot near front margin always white in Painted Lady; can be white or orange in American Lady. Five small, instead of two large eye spots on the under hind wing.”

Thank you so much! I looked at pictures but am not good enough at spotting minor differences so I couldn’t discern exactly what type it was.
I appreciate your help!

Subject: Gulf Fritillary
Location: Coryell County, TX
November 1, 2016 1:49 pm
More Gulf Fritillaries this week. They’re so gorgeous. This one keeps returning to the Portulaca flowers in the hanging baskets. I wish I could capture the silvery iridescence of the white spots on the underwings.
Signature: Ellen

Gulf Fritillary

Dear Ellen,
Thanks for sending in your new Gulf Fritillary images. Do you have any passionflower in your garden?

Hello, thank you so much! No, I don’t have passionflower. I just looked it up, and it looks like a wonderful native plant to add to the garden (and to help hide an un-lovely wire fence 😆). Do the pollinators love it? I imagine that they do. https://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/marapr00/passion.html
Thank you again!